Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

33 reviews

jgeter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While I raced through this book, it wasn’t nearly as fast-paced as the first book. This book expanded upon each of the character’s personalities, motivations, and associated trauma but somehow just missed the spark that kept me racing through the first book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Violence

lokes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

abbypeekreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this installment of The Atlas series so much more than the first book! Not to say that the first book was necessarily bad, but I felt like I had no idea what was going on in the first book, while I had a much easier time following the plot in this one. It helped that I knew what I was getting into this time and chose to slow down and take my time with the story. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual content and Violence

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

this was my multiverse of madness

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

jbabbm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Great writing from Olivie as always! I just feel that I had to read up to more than half of the book so that it got interesting for me😕 Can't wait for the third one, though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

jupitermond's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Violence, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Classism

Minor: Death and Murder

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

clairew97's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

takarakei's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

You gotta go into this knowing it is really about the characters and their interpersonal relationships. I enjoyed this a lot while I was reading it, but after finishing it and thinking about it more, there are definitely a lot of questions and potential plot holes I am not sure about (I say potential because there is a third book yet to come out and it is possible that they could be answered).

This second book in the series is a lot more science fiction leaning than the first. Although they do a fairly good job of explaining some of the physics concepts, as someone without a scientific background, it did feel a bit above my head at parts. I chose to just again, focus on the relationships and personalities. There's some character development - a few characters def go more towards the morally gray side. Still at the end you don't really know who can be trusted.

HOWEVER I WAS SCREAMING during Belen's whole chapter and also GIDEON AND NICO AHHHHH! <3

I do look forward to the conclusion of this series, and I'll def be re-reading the first two books before that comes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Grief

lilifane's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

At around 50% of the book, I realized that 1. Nothing was happening, 2. More and more questions were coming up, and 3. No questions were answered at all. So I wondered where the story was actually going and how it would be wrapped up in 200 pages. When a new cool topic was introduced quite late in the second half of the book, I was confused because there clearly wasn't enough time to explore it and actually wrap the story up. At 85% it dawned on me that this probably wasn't a duology as I had expected. -_-

Sigh. I was looking forward to this book because I had enjoyed the first one despite the story being so vague. But at least the characters were interesting and most of them fun to be in the head of. And I was curious about the library and what this whole plot was all about. 
So imagine my disappointment when I didn't get answers at all, but even more questions. Plus, the characters were more annoying than before. Don't get me wrong, the ones I loved, I loved with all my heart. But I didn't care for the rest. In the first book, I at least found them intriguing or hated them. But this time I didn't feel anything for the majority of them. And I missed the fun banter from book one.
Plus, despite spending 2 full books in the heads of these characters, their actions are not very understandable to me. Lashing out for no reason at all, every single one of them. I don't understand the motivations of like 80% of the characters. 
The biggest weakness is the absence of a plot, though. There were several strands of plot that lead nowhere, which was frustrating because why even write it when you drop it and never pick it up again? And that one story line that actually felt like the center of the book... ended very abruptly. I was so intrigued by the paradox, and I was hoping to explore it more. But nope, things just happened off page and then the book was over. Literally. 
Despite the weaknesses I  still enjoyed the reading experience for some weird reason, the audiobook was fun to listen to and there were things that kept me going till the very end. I mean, the last page was definitely worth it for me. I just feel we could have gotten there much, much quicker. 

Yes, I will read the third book. Maybe there was a reason for all the unnecessary stuff in this book after all, who knows. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder